Analysis & Opinion

NEW YORK Dec 12 (Reuters) - Industrial machinery maker SPX
Corp has outbid private equity firms competing to buy
Gardner Denver Inc by a wide margin, offering to pay
more than $4 billion for the rival, according to two people
familiar with the matter.

Private equity firms Advent International, KKR & Co LP
, and a consortium of TPG Capital Management LP
and Onex Corp made all-cash offers in the mid-to-high
$70s per share range, the people said on Wednesday. But SPX has
topped those bids by offering substantially more, they said.

The SPX offer was so much higher that Gardner Denver
cancelled management meetings with private equity bidders that
were initially set for this week and did not even seek
second-round offers, the people said. Instead, it turned to SPX
for one-on-one discussions with the goal of finalizing a deal
before the end of the year, they said.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the
matter is confidential. SPX, KKR, Advent and TPG declined to
comment, while Onex and Gardner Denver did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.